Late January Statewide Recruiting Roundup

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's a hectic time for prep football recruits looking for college homes. They're playing host to coaches, hitting up junior days and making plans for summer camps.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The process intensifies for uncommitted juniors looking to sign letters of intent in early December. Sophomores and freshmen focus on building relationships with college coaches. There's a lot going on. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>To keep our readers up to date on the latest happenings regarding the recruitment of Iowa high schoolers, we're setting out to share updates on them. The inbox is open for any information you'd like us to include.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here's our late January Recruiting Roundup: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-[player_tooltip player_id='1238514' first='Kasen' last='Thomas'], Prep Redzone Iowa's No. 6 player in the state for 2026, visited Iowa State this past Saturday and was scheduled to be at Nebraska this coming weekend. Both schools have offered the Sioux City Heelan LB/RB scholarships as have Arizona, Iowa, Kansas State, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Hawkeyes, Cyclones, Huskers, Kansas State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern have visited Thomas in Sioux City this month. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Waukee lineman [player_tooltip player_id='1240558' first='Andrew' last='Hine'] has been busy, too. He's had Northern Illinois come by his high school, and he took a trip to North Dakota State this month. He was invited to Iowa's junior day this past week but had to pass because of a wrestling competition. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hine plans on visiting spring practices at Iowa, Wyoming, NIU and NDSU. He has other junior day invitations, but is focusing on his wrestling season. <a href="https://hupkewrestlingproductions.com/class-3a-individual-rankings/">Hupke Wrestling Productions </a>ranks him No. 5 285-pounder in Class 3A. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Hine's Warrior teammate, tight end [player_tooltip player_id='1221928' first='Evan' last='Jacobson'], added an offer from Notre Dame on Tuesday to an impressive list of opportunities that include Ohio State, Texas A&amp;M, Miami (FL), Penn State and a host of others. He's visited with Stanford, Nebraska, Florida State, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, Penn State, Kanas, Colorado, Illinois, Baylor, Miami, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Auburn at Waukee this month.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Iowa City West lineman [player_tooltip player_id='1238174' first='Colin' last='Whitters'] committed to the hometown Hawkeyes on Monday. He also reported offers from Iowa State and Kansas State. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Iowa is home, and I was ready to be a Hawk," he told us. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-West Lyon lineman [player_tooltip player_id='401668' first='Bryce' last='Kock'] attended a junior day at St. Thomas and is scheduled for one at North Dakota this Saturday. The Fighting Hawks visited his school this month as did Northern Iowa.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-[player_tooltip player_id='283946' first='Jayden' last='McGregory'] is our top-ranked prospect in '26. His notable offer list includes blue bloods Georgia and Michigan. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Since the start of this month, McGregory has added offers from Indiana and Arkansas, and welcomed to Valley High School Minnesota coach PJ Fleck, Kansas coach Lance Leipold, and Kansas State coach Chris Klieman. Assistants from Georgia, Louisville, Missouri and Nebraska also dropped by. The Gophers sent an assistant to West Des Moines after Fleck visited.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Ankeny WR/ATH [player_tooltip player_id='897474' first='Andrew' last='Brandhorst'] spoke with Minnesota, North Dakota State and North Dakota at his high school this month. He also received junior day invitations from North Dakota, St. Thomas Bemidji state and Augustana University. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Valley quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='401870' first='Drake' last='DeGroote'] attended a junior day at St. Thomas on Jan. 19. Since then, he's visited with North Dakota State, North Dakota and Lindenwood at his school.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Norwalk WR/DB [player_tooltip player_id='283943' first='Eli' last='Robbins'] received invitations to junior days at Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Lindenwood this month. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-[player_tooltip player_id='1221956' first='Dawson' last='Kreykes'] from Sibley-Ocheyedan joined DeGroote at the St. Thomas junior day. He also was invited to junior days at Northwestern College and Denison University, and spoke with Kansas State at his high school. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-The recruitment of our top player in the 2027 hasn't slowed down. Norwalk tight end [player_tooltip player_id='1198816' first='Luke' last='Brewer'] added a Colorado to his stack of offers on Monday. Missouri, Auburn, Kansas, Stanford and Arkansas also offered in January.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-The first member of our Iowa '28 class picked up scholarship offers in January. Dowling offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id='1583613' first='Carter' last='Barrett'] reported scholarship offers from Iowa State and Missouri. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->